Inquiring Minds in Saugerties, New York installed a window display with the words “Make America Hate Again,” along with a swastika, to protest Trump. Hilarity Protests ensued. Minnesota has some cozy bookstores. Barnes & Noble wants to build smaller stores with more coffee and alcohol to compete with independent stores that serve as community centers. A London, […]

Artmaking is a particularly human occupation. It deserves celebrating in small and big ways. Following the trend of microfiction on Chipotle bags and short story vending machines, a new endeavor from Coffee House Press called Coffee Sleeve Conversations is setting out to print works specifically from writers of color on coffee sleeves in the hopes of […]

(Dan Weiss is out on tour with his band The Yellow Dress. He’ll be back on August 3rd.) Coffee and grief. Coffee and compassion. The future of the future! When you are not strong. The complexities of Cecil the lion.

And what do we make of chocolate? Are you not afraid that it will burn your blood? Could it be that these miraculous effects mask some kind of inferno [in the body]? The Public Domain Review examines 17th century texts to discover the history of coffee, tea, and chocolate in Europe.

It has long been a favorite factoid of writers that Honoré de Balzac drank fifty cups of coffee a day. But is it true? The Airship’s Freddie Moore has put an admirable amount of research into investigating the claim, dividing coffee cups from demitasses and unhealthy doses of caffeine from fatal ones: I found one […]

Sadie Stein makes the worst coffee, or so she says in the Paris Review. Her coffee is always “awful in a different way,” sometimes too bitter, and at other times, too weak. Stein reflects on her childhood love of Sleeping Beauty: “I was fascinated by the notion that, no matter how far you run, you cannot […]

Do you work better during the morning or the evening? With a shot of espresso or a mug of green tea? An intriguing little Slate series documents the work habits of writers and other creative people, from Ernest Hemingway to David Lynch. The latest missive is about amphetamines, but if you prefer your stimulants a little […]

A new study suggests that drinking more than one cup of coffee a day may prevent the onset of depression in women. And the more you drink, the better: “The biggest coffee drinkers saw the largest reduction in risk, according to the study. Those who drank four cups or more per day reduced their risk […]

How did Los Angeles, that haven of low-culture and strip mall malaise beat us (San Francisco) to the punch with high-brow coffee? (I jest. L.A. is great if you want to buy human bone jewelry, guzzle incredible garlic sauce, and hang out with famous porn stars in a 24 hour Jewish deli.) How did not […]

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Welcome to The Rumpus! We’re thrilled you’re here. We know how easy it is to find pop culture on the Internet, so we’re here to give you something more challenging, to show you how beautiful things are when you step off the beaten path. The Rumpus is a place where people come to be themselves through their writing, to tell their stories or speak their minds in the most artful and authentic way they know how. We strive to be a platform for marginalized voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We want to shine a light on stories that build bridges, tear down walls, and speak truth to power.